Q.U.B.E. 2 review: A bigger sequel and a better sequel, but the novelty’s long gone

Back in 2012, Q.U.B.E. reminded me of Portal. Now, six years later, the sequel Q.U.B.E. 2 reminds me of Portal 2—and that annoys me. It annoys me because I hate reducing a game to the sum of its (very obvious) inspirations, hate trying to separate one from the shadow of the other, hate lumping together apples and oranges merely because they’re fruit.

But Q.U.B.E. 2 and Portal 2 are less apples and oranges, more a mixed crate of Fuji and Honeycrisp apples. There’s a sense of history repeating itself as, like Portal before, the proof-of-concept that was Q.U.B.E. returns with a larger, more complicated sequel—one that sometimes leaves you missing the original’s simplicity.